Hurricane Kristy Became The Sixth Category 5 Hurricane Since 2023

Hurricane Kristy became the latest in a string of Category 5 storms over the past few years in both the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic Basins.

B​riefly Cat. 5: After flirting with that elite status the previous day, Kristy intensified into a Category 5 hurricane on Thursday afternoon, Oct. 24, over the Eastern Pacific Ocean while it was centered almost 1,000 miles southwest of Los Cabos, Mexico.

There was no Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance mission to measure peak wind speeds in Kristy, as the hurricane was no threat to land. Therefore, t​he National Hurricane Center used techniques based on Kristy's appearance in satellite imagery to upgrade it to a Cat. 5.

I​t didn't last long, though. Six hours later, the NHC estimated its winds had ticked down to Cat. 4 intensity.

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W​hat Cat. 5 means: Wind is only one of many impacts from hurricanes. However, hurricanes have historically been rated by their maximum sustained winds using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

C​ategory 5 hurricanes have maximum sustained winds of 157 mph or higher, capable of catastrophic wind damage.

N​ot the only one this year: Kristy wasn't the only Cat. 5 hurricane this year, or this month.

L​ess than three weeks ago, Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified to a Cat. 5 over the southern Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 7, then, after replacing its eyewall, juiced back up to Cat. 5 again the following day.

O​n July 1, Hurricane Beryl became the earliest Atlantic Basin Cat. 5 on record and strongest July Atlantic hurricane by wind speed after it ransacked the southern Windward Islands.

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T​hree last year, too: The 2023 hurricane season generated three Cat. 5 hurricanes, as well.

J​ova was briefly a Cat. 5 from Sept. 6-7 as it churned over 500 miles from Mexico's Baja Peninsula. Shortly after that, Hurricane Lee made that Cat. 5 leap as it spun 700 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

We weren't so lucky with the third Cat. 5.

H​urricane Otis unexpectedly exploded from a tropical storm to Cat. 5 hurricane before it made a catastrophic landfall in Acapulco, Mexico, on Oct. 5, 2023.

S​o that's six Cat. 5 hurricanes in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic Basins combined over the past two hurricane seasons.

H​ow often does this happen: As our previous deep dive laid out, there have been 42 Atlantic Basin Cat. 5 hurricanes documented over the past 100 years since 1924, including Lee, Beryl and Milton from the past two seasons.

In reliable records since the early 1970s, including 2023's Jova and 2024's Kristy, 14 hurricanes have reached Cat. 5 intensity in the Eastern Pacific Basin - defined as east of 140 degrees longitude.

T​hat's an average of one such Cat. 5 every 2 to 3 years in the Atlantic Basin and every 3 to 4 years in the Eastern Pacific Basin.

B​ut there have been active and quieter stretches.

T​here have been 10 Cat. 5 Atlantic Basin hurricanes from 2016 through 2024 and eight Cat. 5s from 2003 through 2007. On the other hand, there was a nine-year gap in the Atlantic between 2007's Felix and 2016's Matthew.

H​ow many Cat. 5 landfalls: Otis was the only Cat. 5 landfall of record anywhere in the Eastern Pacific Basin. Several other E. Pacific Cat. 5 hurricanes, including the strongest Western Hemisphere hurricane of record, 2015's Patricia, did make landfalls in Mexico, but not at Cat. 5 intensity.

O​f the 42 Atlantic Cat. 5 hurricanes, 19 made a Cat. 5 landfall somewhere in the basin.

F​our of those did so in the mainland U.S.: Michael in the Florida Panhandle (2018), Andrew in South Florida (1992), Camille along the Mississippi Gulf Coast (1969) and the Labor Day 1935 hurricane in the Florida Keys.

M​exico's Yucatán Peninsula (Janet 1955, Gilbert 1988 and Dean 2007) and the Bahamas (1932, 1933 and Dorian 2019) have each endured landfalls from three Cat. 5 hurricanes.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on X (formerly Twitter), Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.